Line Of Succesion Reposted
by spudicus87
Summary: The history and future of the Order of Aurelius.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclamer: **Characters don't belong to me. All are owed by the almighty Joss.

**Line of Succession**

The Order of Aurelius has been around for centuries on end, and has always been constructed as an order of power; not justice. There's no guilt, no remorse; just darkness. It was pure. It was run this way for centuries until a curse plagued the bloodline. When 'The Scourge of Europe' fed off the wrong girl and was damned for all eternity with a soul. This was an unfortunate mishap for Angelus, and it would later spell the destruction of the Order of Aurelius. At the time the leader of this Order was a vampire by the name of Henrich Joseph Nest, otherwise known as The Master. Being as old as he was The Master had lost his semblance of humanity long before Angelus, or even Darla for that matter, were sired into the Order. The Master would continue to rule, even confined under the town of Sunnydale, till the Slayer, Buffy Summers, would slay him after his attempt to free himself and open the Hellmouth.

Generally, the line of succession states that the next vampire of the bloodline should receive the full power and support of the Order. Which would have been Darla had she been still among the undead, but was staked by the re-ensouled Angel, her childe. This left the throne to Angel, but a vampire-with-a-soul was unprecedented at the time, and it was decided that Angel would be taken out of the line of succession, and the Order completely. This left the throne to Drusilla and it was later decided that she would share her rule with her childe, Spike, or William The Bloody. It seemed that the Order was at peace and in control again until Angel lost his soul, experiencing a true moment of happiness, and Angelus returned. The Order had already taken him out of the line of succession, but this was Angelus.

For many years, even decades, The Master proclaimed that Angelus would be the one to succeed him. Angelus both knew and understood the power he already had, even if he'd been gone for 90 years, and seized control from Spike and Dru, who readily accepted Angelus back with open arms. Even though the Order felt whole again, and had Angelus, the true successor to the throne, at the helm Angelus' reign would be a short one, and led to more pain and confusion not only for Angelus, but for the rest of the Order. It was proposed that Spike and Dru take control again after it became known that Angelus had once again regained his soul and had been sent to Hell by the Slayer, who was rumored to be his soul mate. This would have been fine, but Spike and Dru decided to make themselves scarce and fled to South America. This left the Order in shambles and without a clear leader, produced chaos among the members.

Trying to restore order the members tried to fix what damage they could, and called on The First Evil to bring back their greatest leader, Angelus. It was thought that if Angel would make love to the Slayer once more he would again lose his soul and become Angelus. It was well known that Angelus was a very strong willed person and thus his souled self must be equally or even more so. The First did agree to their proposal and nearly convinced him to comply with its demands, but his demeanor and emotions changed very quickly and The First almost drove him to commit suicide. The Order didn't care which way it went because they realized that if he wouldn't join them he would become their greatest adversary. The First's little act also awakened a force that Angel would later join and support, The Powers That Be. Seeing that the plan had failed The First departed and left the Order to deal with the consequences. Angel now realized what danger he posed to the Slayer and her friends, and decided to leave Sunnydale. Therefore, eliminating the threat.

He moved to LA where he automatically makes enemies, the most important being Wolfram & Hart, a law firm for demons. He is soon recruited by The Powers That Be along with a half-breed demon, Doyle, to appose the forces of darkness and help people. He later ran into Cordelia, from Sunnydale, and formed a business to 'help the helpless.' Back in Sunnydale, however, Spike returned and searched for the Gem of Amora, leaving Dru in South America with her new boyfriend. He found the Gem, but is beaten by Buffy and fled without the ring, in which Buffy gave to Oz who went to LA to give to Angel. With the ring in Angel's possession he could have been invulnerable to even sunlight, but Spike soon found out that Angel had the ring and came to retrieve it from him, weather it be the hard or easy way. Spike's plan was a flop, and he ended up going back to Sunnydale. Where he was captured by the Initiative, a group of the military that specializes in demons, and was cursed with a chip in his brain, affectively defanging him, and ultimately putting him out of the line of succession.

TBC

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Please review. I am planning on continuing the story based on the response I get. Look for an update soon. 


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

As with Angel, Spike also joins with the slayer to fight evil. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles Angel continues to work for the Powers That Be, and is confronted by one of his past sins, Penn. Penn was sired before Drusilla and was considered for a time as heir, but this idea was later abandoned. Penn was never really involved with the order and showed no interest to be. Angel eventually fights Penn where Penn is dusted by Kate, a police officer for the L.A.P.D. In aligning themselves with Wolfram & Hart the order learns that Wolfram & Hart are planning on bringing back Darla to break Angel. The order sees this as a win-win situation. If Darla could break Angel then they would have Angelus back as their leader, and if that didn't work they could have Darla take the thrown.

As promised Wolfram & Hart bring Darla back, but the order is dismayed to find out that she is human and that there is a prophecy that foretells that the vampire with a soul will become human once his destiny is fulfilled. With Wolfram & Hart's reassurances the order watches as Darla starts to rattle Angel. The order soon finds out that Darla is dying and that Wolfram & Hart knew of this. Wolfram & Hart's timetable is sped up so they wouldn't miss the opportunity to awaken Angelus. Lindsey McDonald, a lawyer at Wolfram & Hart, finds a way to rectify there mistake by finding Drusilla who sires Darla. It is because of this incident that Angel plummets and hits rock bottom. The order is intrigued as they witness Angel give Darla and Drusilla free reign over the Wolfram & Hart lawyers by locking them in with the two deadly vampires. It was discussed at a early time that Lilah Morgan or Lindsey McDonald be suitable replacements for taking the thrown, but it was against Wolfram & hart policy and they were declined. Also the order still had hope that Angelus would return and the order was well aware of the lawyers' hatred of him.

The order was preparing for the return of Angelus as news came of his attempt at losing his soul, and were crushed when he still woke up with a soul. Darla leaves LA frustrated while Dru heads to Sunnydale where she tries to bring Spike back to her and fails. It is then revealed that Spike, like Angel, has feelings for Buffy and is helping her overt the apocalypse. When Buffy dies Spike stays to guard Dawn, Buffy's sister, while Angel, after receiving the news, flees to Sri Lanka.

TBC

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This story will lead into my next story called Dark Horizons. Please read and review. more to come soon. 


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

Soon after Angel returns from Sri Lanka two of the most influential women in his life make reappearances. Buffy comes back from the grave and Darla shows up at his door pregnant with his child. Since Darla's disappearance last year there had been murmurings in the underground of her being pregnant and the order was thrilled that they may have another candidate for leading the order. Soon another problem arose when Holtz, a vampire hunter that hunted Angelus and Darla in the late 1700's, makes his presence known. The child is born and once again Darla dies, apparently for the last time. Very shortly after his birth, Connor, is kidnapped and taken to an alternate dimension, Quortoth, by Holtz. The order is again left with Angel being the only suitable heir. A few days later Connor reappears as a teenager who has been raised to hate Angel by Holtz. Holtz also returns and kills himself to frame Angel. In a fit of rage, anger, and vengeance seals Angel in a metal box and dumps him in the ocean where he stays for the summer. The order is very impressed by Connor's rage and vengefulness and soon re-embraces the plan to make Connor heir.

In Sunnydale, Spike continues to help the slayer and their relationship. In an effort to prove himself Spike hits the road in search of a mystical being that will restore his soul. With Spike receiving a soul and Angel at the bottom of the ocean the order started their plan to bring Connor to their side.

TBC

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The next chapter will be the last chapter for this story. The next story, Dark Horizons, will continue where this story will end. It will probably be in the Angel section so keep an eye out. And as for Lindsey, you never know what will come up in the next story, it's full of surprises. 


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

Angel is found and brought back for the brink of starvation while Spike shows up in Sunnydale half insane. In LA Angel is soon confronted with a demon that seems to be hell-bent on bringing forth the apocalypse and ending the world, while in Sunnydale the First Evil has decided to turn up the heat itself and end the slayer bloodline. Once being allied with the First Evil the order quickly joins in the mayhem of killing off the slayer line before it comes to their attention the chaos that is happening in LA. The Beast has taken care of the sun problem in LA and the order decides to move their attentions to LA. Soon Angel is convinced that by losing his soul he will find the answers they have been looking for when it comes to defeating the Beast. The order is astounded by this decision and awaits the reappearance of their leader Angelus. Angelus does break lose and for a time wreaks havoc on LA, but is soon recaptured and his soul restored when Faith, the vampire slayer, comes in to help take care of the problem. Once the Beast is destroyed it doesn't take Angel too long to figure out that Cordelia is behind all of this.

Before Cordelia can be dealt with Jasmine comes into existence and the order is baffled when everyone, including Angel, bows to her power. However Jasmine is soon defeated after her spell is broken and Angel takes a trip to another dimension. Connor seems to go completely insane while Angel and his friends are offered the chance to take over Wolfram and Hart. Angel agrees to take over Wolfram and Hart if Connor is taken care of and Angel is given information about the First that could help the Sunnydale gang.

Angel delivers the information to Buffy and Spike uses the tool Angel delivered to Buffy to save the world and dust himself. The order is once again left with Angel being the only suitable candidate and they believe is they can turn him back to Angelus he would be even more powerful then he had ever been with his power at Wolfram and Hart.

The End

Please read and tell me what you thought of this fic.

A.N. Sorry for the wait. Life seemed to get a little hectic. This is the last chapter of Line of Succession. I wrote this fic back when season 4 and season 7 were actually happening and never continued it. The story will be continued in my next fic: Dark Horizons. I hope to have the first chapter up by next week depending on how much stuff I have to do for college. I have a basic plot line set for this fic, but if you want to see something happen or someone make a reappearance please tell me. Dark Horizons will start out in Angel season 5 so it will be in the Angel section. Please keep your eyes open for it. Thanks for reading.


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